If you have been in a car accident in Virginia, you may be considering hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer to handle your case. Hiring a lawyer is probably a smart choice, but you may want to know how much it will cost before you start looking for the right one for your case. After all, there is a lot of work that goes into handling these cases, so the fee must be pretty steep, right? And you've always seen on TV how lawyers seem to bill by the hour on all kinds of cases...

Actually, in most cases, a lawyer will charge you what is called a contingency fee for an accident or injury case. He or she will take a percentage piece of the final settlement. This also means that the lawyer will only recover money if your case is successful.

The average lawyer will charge anywhere from 33-40% of the settlement or trial result. He or she only collects that money after the case has reached its final settlement, and you are collecting money from the case yourself.

You should always ask any lawyer you are considering hiring about how they charge for their contingency fee. What are the percentages? What outside costs could be charged to you (Ex. Travel expenses?

If you have questions about your Virginia auto accident case, you can download a FREE copy of Ben Glass's book, 5 Deadly Sins that can Wreck Your Injury Claim from our website. You can also contact BenGlassLaw at (703) 584-7277 or by filling out a contact form at JustAskBenGlass.com. Representation in jurisdictions where we are not already licensed is performed in conjunction with local counsel–at no additional legal fees to the client–and with permission of the court.